It’s still pretty fresh, the exit of David Benioff and D.B. Weiss from their planned Star Wars trilogy, and as is usually the case we’re getting details quickly. Variety has the info, and while there aren’t any explosive confrontations or anything like that, it does look like Kathleen Kennedy was unhappy with the duo’s proposed ideas.
According to the report, Benioff and Weiss were basically given freedom to tell any story they wanted, and the duo decided to focus on the birth of the Jedi. That’s a big, ambitious story to tell, and when the folks at Lucasfilm had other ideas in mind, the partnership began to crumble. All of this was taking place last summer, and was exacerbated by the duo signing an exclusive nine-figure deal with Netflix to develop new films and TV projects. With this deal in their back pocket, Weiss and Benioff just decided it was best to part ways from Lucasfilm.
When relations started to breakdown, Kennedy began entertaining Star Wars pitches from other writers, and she may want to start dialing some of them up now. There’s a huge void to fill now, as Benioff and Weiss’ trilogy was to begin in 2022 and stretch through 2026 before the baton would be passed to Rian Johnson and his series of films. It’s unclear if Johnson is even moving forward on his at this point. Who knows? Marvel’s Kevin Feige has a project in the earliest stages of development, but as of right now there’s nothing concrete beyond The Rise of Skywalker. That can’t last, so don’t be surprised if we hear something very soon about the direction Lucasfilm plans on going.
